Hi,
I’ve just installed my Nuki lock and it seems a solid product. I have to say, the UX of the app is not that great. There are a lot of options, none are explained in great detail nor with examples. I’m in the situation where some modes are conflicting with each other. Let me explain.
My door does not have the handle from the outside, just the key. On the inside I have the handle and the nuki. It has a 360 turn lock + latch.
The latch is a security latch, meaning the door will not shut unless you unlatch. It is build that way so the door can’t slam shut, locking yourself out. To close the door, I have to use the handle to unlatch, close, latch again. Or use the key from the inside/outside to unlatch, close the door and release the latch. From that point on, the door can’t be opened without the key (or using the handle if you’re inside). I do lock at night (360 degrees turn) or when I’m leaving (with the key from the outside).
What I want is: Night mode, at 10pm it locks the door (so far so good, it is actually working).
Lock and go: I push the button, the door opens (unlock if necessary, and always unlatch) and wait. Once the door has been opened AND closed again, I want the latch to be released and the door to be locked with no wait, so I can just leave the house knowing the the door is locked.
How can I configure the lock to achieve that?
Update 1: I’ve removed the door sensor because it is causing issues. It does not detect if the door is open or close and it is always reporting the wrong state.
This type of latch is quite uncommon. Typically the latch is automatically pulled whenever you push down the handle. That’s why the Smart Lock never pulls the latch when you’re inside (i.e. actions that are triggered by the button never pull the latch).
Can you post a video of how this process of “close the door, use the handle to unlatch, close, latch again” works?
To be clear: the Nuki does pull the latch when I use “Open door”. When it does release the latch, it shows “Unlocked” (which is indeed correct) and it does the 360 degrees turn when I push “Lock”, showing the status as “Locked”. The lock is working correctly. I guess it is a mix of Door sensor not working and the multiple options. I’ll take a video now and post it shortly
I’m going to ask you some questions to try to understand the settings a bit better. Let’s assume I do get the door sensor to work.
Unlatch duration. Let’s say I set it to 30 seconds. I now start lock & go. The door unlocks (if necessary) and unlatch. I now have 30 seconds to shut the door. Will the latch be released earlier if the door sensor detects the door as closed?
Lock and go duration. Let’s say I set it to 5 seconds. Is it 5 seconds on top of the 30 seconds for the latch? How does it work if I add the door sensor into the mix?
A feedback for you: make it so that the app reflects the door status in real time.The lock LED displays the correct status but the app does not refresh.
Also, you use “door open” in multiple points (for both the sensor and the latch). That’s extremely confusing. I would suggest you change one of the two.
Example:
door unlatched, closed
door unlatched, open (or ajar)
door unlocked, closed
door unlocked, ajar
…and so on
The app is fast at connecting but it needs some big UX improvements.
Ok, so your door is special as you can not slam it, when it is open (because of the slam protection). Which means that the latch needs to be pulled whenever you want to close the door. Everything else is the same than with a standard door with knob on the outside.
Nuki’s Lock’n’Go mechanism is not compatible with your cylinder as it would need to pull and hold the latch until you left (currently it does not pull the latch at all when issued with the button of the Smart Lock). Also when you come home, Nuki would ideally not release the latch when you open the door, but after you closed it again. This is basically doable, but would require a specific operating mode and setting for it. You can file a feature request and start collecting votes for it
With the currently available settings the closest thing you can get to is:
Do not activate the door sensor
Increase unlatch duration when you issue the “Open door” command so that you can enter and close the door behind you (e.g. 10s) before the latch is released.
If you want to use Lock’n’Go get a Nuki Fob, configure it to issue “Lock’n’Go on single press” and set the Lock’n’Go duration to a very short time period (e.g. 5s). So if you want to leave your home, you press the button on the Fob, which will unlatch the door for the configured “unlatch duration” (e.g. 10s) and lock it after the “Lock’n’Go duration” (e.g. 5s). This gives you 10s to walk out before the latch will be released and an additional 5s later the door will be locked.
I see! I’ve managed to make it work at some point but it worked only once. I assumed it was because the door sensor wasn’t working but maybe there’s something else.
Anyway, is there a way that I can code this using the bridge (or bluetooth) APIs?
If I issue an “unlatch” API command, will the lock keep it unlatched until further instructions? Will the lock accept a following “lock” command whilst it is still unlatched? What’s the difference between “lock and to” and “lock and go unlatch”?
If you issue an unlatch command, the lock will pull the latch for the configured unlatch duration (Administration > Unlatch duration). Every API and IFTTT support the unlatch command.
Perfect. I’ve managed to work around the limitations. The door is now shutting without pulling the latch.
My setup:
Lock & go set to 5 seconds. I can open the door, press the button and initiate the lock&go; I have 5 seconds to shut the door behind me. I’m not going to use the “lock & go” from the app because that pulls the latch and that takes too long (see following point)
Unlatch set to 30 seconds. The auto unlock feature works brilliantly, it starts the unlock when I exit the lift. By the time I walk to the door it is unlocked or almost unlocked. I then have another 30 seconds to open the door before the latch is released.
It is just perfect and without the door sensor. I’ll try again with the door sensor because I would like for it to work, so I can set a slightly longer lock & go time and let the sensor override it as soon as I close the door.
A few comments about the UX app, please pass them to the product team:
The app uses Nuki wording that are not clear to new users. For example: Lock and go… what does that do? You must add a bit of an explainer in the app, both in the config options and when selection the lock/unlock mode on the home screen. Keep in mind that users will forget what you mean with “lock and go” so keep the little “(i)” on the home screen as a quick reminder.
Same words used but with producing results. Example: “lock & go” by pressing the button on the lock does not pull the latch but “lock & go” by pressing the button on the app does. Why? It is a very confusing behaviour. I think that depends on the config about the outside of the door. It pulls the latch from the app if I configure it with knob outside. But why should I guess? Same command should produce the same result.
“Door open” is used for both the lock and the door sensor, causing a bit of confusion. I suggest you change one of the two. Open/close is ok for the door sensor but use “lock, unlocked, unlatched” for the lock itself
The app doesn’t report the door sensor status in real time but the LED on the lock does. I’ve initially turned off the LED and setup the door sensor. It kept triggering the locking even if the door was still open. The app was never up to date which added to my confusion. I’ve then turned on the LED and that helped debugging the situation as it was reflecting the ACTUAL status of the door. I’ve now found a spot where the door sensor kind of works
The hardware is amazing, the auto unlock feature is magical. But the app needs some big improvements! I almost returned my lock because of the app, that’s not great
I’ve the Opener on the way as my Net Promoter Score is now 7-8. (up from 4-5 earlier yesterday). How can I join the beta testing?
